Biological optical measurement instrument and method for displaying information relating to necessity/unnecessity of replacement of light-emitting unit

Abstract

Disclosed is a biological optical measurement instrument provided with: a light source unit which has a light-emitting unit that emits light and irradiates the light to an object; a light measurement unit configured to measure passing light at a measurement point of the object: a signal processing unit configured to process hemoglobin information outputted from the light measurement unit and create a light measurement image; and a display unit configured to display the light measurement image, further provided with a measurement/determination unit configured to measure the deterioration state of the light-emitting unit from the light output of the light-emitting unit and an electric current injected into the light-emitting unit and determine the necessity/unnecessity of replacement of the light-emitting unit, wherein the display unit displays information relating to the necessity/unnecessity of replacing the light-emitting unit determined by the measurement/determination unit.

1 . A biological optical measurement instrument comprising:
 a light source unit which has light-emitting units that emit light, configured to irradiate the light to an object to be examined;   a light measurement unit configured to measure the transmitted light at a measurement point in the object;   a signal processing unit configured to process the hemoglobin information outputted from the light measurement unit and create a light measurement image; and   a display unit configured to display the light measurement image,   further comprising a measurement/determination unit configured to measure the deterioration state of the light-emitting unit based on the light output of the light-emitting unit and the current injected into the light-emitting unit, and determines the necessity/unnecessity of replacement of the light-emitting unit,   wherein the display unit displays the information on the necessity/unnecessity of replacing the light-emitting unit which is determined by the measurement/determination unit.   
     
     
         2 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the current injected into the light-emitting unit surpasses the absolute rated current, determines that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         3 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the light output does not reach a predetermined value at the time that the absolute rated current is injected into the light-emitting unit, determines that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         4 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the current injected into the light-emitting unit reaches a current value which is smaller than the absolute rated value for the portion of a predetermined value, determines that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         5 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the current injected into the light-emitting unit does not reach a current value which is smaller than the absolute rated current for the portion of a predetermined value, determines that the light-emitting unit does not need to be replaced. 
     
     
         6 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the light-output starting current at which the light output of the light-emitting unit is started is greater than a predetermined value, determines that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         7 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the current corresponding to a light output which is smaller than the light output is smaller than the absolute rated current, determines that the light-emitting unit does not need to be. 
     
     
         8 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement/determination unit, when the value of slope in a graph based on the light output and the current of the light-emitting unit reaches smaller than a predetermined value, determines that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         9 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 8 , wherein the measurement/determination unit marks a predetermined light output in the graph, and determines, when the current corresponding to a predetermined light output surpasses the absolute rated current, that the light-emitting unit needs to be replaced. 
     
     
         10 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , comprising a usable-period calculation unit configured to calculate the timing that the current reaches the absolute rated current and the usable period according to the graph based on the current corresponding to the light output of the light-emitting unit and time, wherein the measurement/determination unit determines the necessity/unnecessity of replacement of the light-emitting unit on the basis of the timing that the current reaches the absolute rated current and the estimated usable period. 
     
     
         11 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , comprising a light-emitting unit condition measuring unit configured to measure the deterioration state of the light-emitting unit on the basis of the gain value which is set, on the basis of the light quantity of the transmitted light measured by the light emitting unit, by the gain adjustment unit that sets a gain value by which the digital signal based on the hemoglobin information is multiplied, wherein the measurement/determination unit determines the necessity/unnecessity of replacement of the light-emitting unit from the deterioration state thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 11 , wherein light-emitting unit condition measuring unit measures the deterioration state of the light-emitting unit by the ratio between the gain value at the time of shipment and the current gain value. 
     
     
         13 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , comprising an ammeter configured to measure a current, between an optical module provided with a modulator that modulates the light emitted by the light-emitting unit by a plurality of different frequencies and the light-emitting unit. 
     
     
         14 . The biological optical measurement instrument according to  claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting unit emits near-infrared light that includes a semiconductor laser or light-emitting diode. 
     
     
         15 . A method for displaying information regarding the necessity/unnecessity of replacement of a light-emitting unit including steps of:
 measuring the deterioration state of a light-emitting unit from the light output of the light-emitting unit that emits light and the current injected into the light-emitting unit;   determining the necessity/unnecessity of replacing the light-emitting unit from the deterioration state; and   displaying the information regarding necessity/unnecessity of replacement of the light-emitting unit.